My High School Art Lesson Plans

(also suitable for Middle School)

Level 3

Click here if you haven't seen level 1.

Click here if you haven't seen level 2.

Hi, I'm a high school teacher and artist.  I was fortunate enough to be able to teach one year of the subject I'm most passionate about---art, before I was transferred to other disciplines, currently Algebra and Geometry.  Below are the lesson plans that I created for my high school art level 1 students during the 2003-2004 semester.  Teachers --- feel free to use them as a resource in your classroom.

You may also find some ideas for your class by perusing My Artwork.

 

Click on each link to view the document in Microsoft Word.  Some documents are in jpeg format because parts were created by hand.  You can also see larger views of the student artwork by clicking on each thumbnail.  All lessons are presented in the order in which they were taught.  Not all lessons of each unit are present on these pages.  My lessons also sometimes accompany reading material found in the book, Art Talk, by Rosalind Ragans.

 

If you find anything useful on my site, I'd be very appreciative of your Paypal donation! Just click below---even a dollar would be helpful!

Unit 1:  Still Life in Charcoal with Texture

Students learned how to tell the textures of objects by the way in which the light reflects.  This helped them to draw a still-life in charcoal pencils that had at least three different textures present.

Texture Reading Questions

Textural Object Drawings Project Sheet

Textural Object Drawings Assessment Sheet

Textural Still-Life Drawing Project Sheet

Textural Still-Life Drawing Assessment Sheet

Student Artwork (object drawings and final still lifes):

vase.jpg (109474 bytes)  gourd.jpg (170234 bytes)  bowl.jpg (110432 bytes)  still life charcoal nick.jpg (119273 bytes)  still life charcoal brian.jpg (211610 bytes)  still life charcoal jodi.jpg (171889 bytes)  still life charcoal andrea holloway.jpg (154314 bytes)

 

Unit 2:  Watercolor Painting

Before beginning their final painting, students were taught the basics of watercolor painting through a series of short activities.  The entire unit is presented below.

Introduction to Watercolor Text

Introduction to Watercolor Reading Questions

Watercolor Practice Lesson 1

Watercolor Practice Lesson 2

Watercolor Practice Lesson 3

Watercolor Final Project Sheet

Watercolor Assessment Sheet

Student Artwork:

watercolor album cover nice washes justin.jpg (176654 bytes)  watercolor jim morrison heather.jpg (159166 bytes)  watercolor turtle.jpg (150543 bytes)  watercolor black tree vibrant sunset.jpg (141025 bytes)  watercolor blue flames.jpg (174191 bytes)  watercolor stained glass man ryan.jpg (149570 bytes)  watercolor sublime sun bryan.jpg (185468 bytes)

 

Unit 3:  Pysanky --- the art of Ukrainian Egg Dyeing

This unit involved the creation of two designed eggs.  Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of student work, but if you would like to see some examples of this art form, you can look at some of my own pysanky.

History of Pysanky Text

History of Pysanky Reading Questions

Pysanky Project Sheet

Pysanky Assessment Sheet

 

Unit 4:  Textural Acrylic Painting

Students learned of ways to create texture in an acrylic painting such as through brush strokes, collage, decalcomania, frottage and grattage.  Unfortunately, the files for this unit have been lost, but I can at least show some of the student artwork from this unit.  The requirements were to show at least three textures in the final painting.

Student Artwork:

drum player jodi.jpg (163231 bytes)  drum player detail jodi.jpg (103012 bytes)
Here you can see the drumsticks, hair, eyebrows and strings on the right side are all real, three-dimensional objects that were attached to the canvas.
 
 
texture house and closet adam.jpg (154528 bytes)  texture house and closet closeup adam.jpg (184596 bytes)
This artist attached "clothes" cut from fabric, hangers made from paperclips and a real flower for the "painting" hanging on the wall.
 
 
shrek justin.jpg (146648 bytes)  shrek closeup justin.jpg (130462 bytes)
This portrait of Shrek shows him wearing a vest made of indoor/outdoor carpeting.  Different brush strokes were used to create the background and two types of fur on the donkey.  
 
 
dumb and dumber allison.jpg (179434 bytes)
This "Dumb and Dumber" painting achieves the look of varied textures through differing brush stroke techniques.

 

Level 4 --- Independent Study

A couple of my students chose to help decorate the walls of the art room for their independent study project.  They knew how much I loved music, so they definitely chose some appropriate subject matter.  Notice Frank Zappa in the bottom left corner of the second mural!  Also pictured were their choices of Elvis Presley, Jack White, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Jerry Garcia, and Bob Dillian.  For the following school year, I was needed at the middle school, so I didn't get to enjoy them for very long.  For 2005-2006, I was transferred back to this very room, so I got to see them all the time.  My assistant in 2006 created the last mural that is painted underneath the whiteboard.  Unfortunately, I am once again changing teaching schedules and moving to a different room.

the wall mural.jpg (175707 bytes)  wall mural closeup 1.jpg (119211 bytes)  wall mural closeup 2.jpg (130960 bytes)

legends of rock mural.jpg (165860 bytes)  elvis closeup.jpg (161824 bytes)  jack white closeup.jpg (165836 bytes)  jimi hendrix closeup.jpg (144433 bytes)  jim morrison closeup.jpg (139520 bytes)  jerry garcia closeup.jpg (137853 bytes)  frank zappa closeup.jpg (138391 bytes)  bob dillian closeup.jpg (126679 bytes)

birds mural.jpg (183288 bytes)

 

 

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